Colossians 2:6-8: “Walk and Watch Out—Stand Firm in the Faith.”
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Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to the book of Colossians. Our passage today is Colossians 2:6–8. Paul’s argument in this section really goes down all the way to verse 15. But I can’t squeeze all of that into one message, so I will stop at verse 8 and just focus on verses 6–8 today. Next week, I’ll address verses 9–15.
And speaking of Colossians 2:6–8, Paul gives us two commands in this passage that we should take note of. These are the first commands (Greek imperatives) in the entire book. He says, first of all, “walk” in verse 6. And then he says, “See to it” in verse 8. In Greek these are the verbs περιπατέω (peripateō) and βλέπω (blepō) respectively. Walk and watch out. That’s a great summary statement for the Christian life from conversion to the grave: Walk and watch out.
And to that you might say, “Walk how?” And also, “watch out for what?” Those two questions I hope to answer for you today.
Several years ago, when my son was younger, I tried to get him to read The Lord of the Rings trilogy. So I did what any decent father would do in that situation—I bribed him. I told him, “If you read all three books in that trilogy, I’ll buy you any LEGO set you want.” At the time, he was really into LEGOs and building LEGO sets.
And he did it. He read the whole thing. And it was fun because then we could talk about the books and talk about the movies and have these shared experiences.
But I do remember him saying this. When I asked him about the books, he said, “Well Dad, there’s a lot of walking in the books.” And that’s true. There is action and there is danger in the books, but there’s also a lot of walking. Much of that trilogy involves the main characters walking and talking from point A to B to C to D, etcetera, etcetera.
And here’s the parallel for the Christian life. Our following of Christ… Our movement to becoming mature in Christ Jesus… much of that involves taking simple steps every day. Are there adventures along the way? Sure. Are there ups and downs? Yes. Are there climactic points of overcoming challenges and difficulties? You bet. But the bulk of the Christian life involves step by step following Christ, every day, all the way to the finish line.
And I love the analogy of walking that Paul uses in the NT. Colossians 2 isn’t the only place it shows up (see Rom 6:4; 2 Cor 5:7; Gal 5:16; Eph 4:1; 5:2, 8; Col 1:10; 2:6; 4:5; 1 Thess 4:1). I love that he uses this analogy, because many Christians view their Christian lives as simply an on/off switch. “I’m a Christian. I’ve been born again. I was lost, but now I’m found. The End.”
And there’s some truth to that, of course. But being born again is just the beginning of a lifelong journey. Getting baptized is just the first step in a lifelong process of sanctification. We have received Christ Jesus the Lord. Yes! Hallelujah! But also we walk in him for five, ten, twenty, fifty, seventy years.
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Here’s your outline today. Very simply, we are encouraged in Colossians 2:6–8 to walk and watch out as believers. How do we walk? We walk in Christ.
Write this down as #1 in your notes.
What does a Christian do after Conversion?
1) We Walk in Christ (2:6–7)
Paul says in verse 6,
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
Now there are a few assumptions built into this statement that we’ve got to address in order to make this “walking” effective. The first assumption is the “receiving.” What does it mean to receive Christ Jesus as Lord? You can’t walk in him if you haven’t received him. You can’t advance the football down the field without the football.
What does it mean to receive Christ? Answer: “receiving Christ Jesus as Lord” here is shorthand for conversion. To receive Christ Jesus the Lord is essentially receiving the gospel. This is born-again language. You have to be saved. You have to be born again. You can’t walk in Christ if you haven’t been redeemed by Christ.
The famous statesman and religious leader from India, Mahatma Gandhi, was a great admirer of Jesus. He spoke repeatedly about following Christ’s example and living like he did. But he totally rejected Christ’s claim to be God. He said famously,
“I could accept Jesus as a martyr, an embodiment of sacrifice, and a divine teacher, but not as the most perfect man ever born.”
Gandhi tried to imitate Christ on his own terms. He wanted to believe and obey the Sermon on the Mount without believing and obeying the other statements in the NT about Jesus. But that doesn’t work. You’re throwing out the baby to save the bathwater in that scenario.
Another assumption here is the spiritual state of the Colossians. Paul assumes in this statement that the Colossians are believers. They are legit converts to Christ. So his warnings concerning false teachers and plausible arguments that delude (2:4) are warnings delivered from one believer to another. Even with all the unhealthy things that are taking place in the Colossian church and their flirting with false teaching, it’s good to know that Paul still thinks that they are believers. They’ve received Christ.
And let’s drill down on that a little further. Look again at the front side of verse 6.
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord,
The Lord! Feel the deliberateness of Paul’s language here. Doug Moo has shown in his commentary that this is the only appearance of “Christ Jesus the Lord” in the NT with this particular combination of terms and definite articles. And you get the sense that Paul is intentionally elongating this reference so that every part of this statement is emphasized—Christ… Jesus… the… Lord. Not just Jesus. Not just Christ Jesus. But “Christ Jesus the Lord.”
“Yeah, I like Jesus. But I just don’t think he’s ‘the Lord.’”
You don’t get to say that.
“Yeah, I like Jesus. But I think the “Messiah talk” about him and the connections to the OT are overblown.”
You don’t get to say that. You don’t get to receive him that way. And if you do, you aren’t embracing Christian conversion. You can be an admirer like Gandhi. But you can’t be a Christian.
The famous evangelist Billy Graham said the following… Who led more people to Christ than Billy Graham in the last century? Who’s been more impactful for Christ on the mission field? And yet Graham would say,
“No man can be said to be truly converted to Christ who has not bent his will to Christ. He may give intellectual assent to the claims of Christ and may have had emotional religious experiences; however, he is not truly converted until he has surrendered his will to Christ as Lord, Savior and Master.”
And that understanding of Christ Jesus as Lord goes right to the imperative at the back half of the verse.
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
“You received him as ‘the Lord.’ Walk in him as ‘the Lord.’” He’s not your buddy. He’s not your copilot. He’s not your homeboy. He’s not the Tonto to your Lone Ranger. People who talk like that don’t understand Christology as Paul presents it in the book of Colossians. Go read that Christ-hymn again if you have to. Read it again and again and purge that ridiculous “Jesus is my homeboy” thinking of yours if you have to.
Once we have the right view of him, then we can get our walk on. Then we understand what it means to walk in the power that he gives. Then we understand how comprehensive and essential he really is to everything—our justification, our sanctification (our walk), and our future glorification.
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Now, write this down as a, b, c, and d in your notes. Paul gives us some imagery and some instructions for what our “walk” in Christ Jesus looks like. Here’s letter a.
a) We sink our roots into him
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7rooted
How do you walk when you are rooted? Paul is mixing metaphors here. Don’t worry about it. He can get away with that. He’s an apostle!
What does Paul mean by “rooted?” He means you sink your roots deep into Christ Jesus. Your identity is derived from him. Your strength is drawn from him. Like a big, immovable oak tree that has a vast root system deep underground… you are tapped into the soil of strength and sustenance that is Christ Jesus. And those roots go deeper and deeper as you age in Christ.
Probably Paul has Psalm 1:1–3 in mind here:
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”
Probably Paul also has Jeremiah 17:7–8 in mind:
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
You might say to this, “I want to be that tree, Pastor Tony! How do I sink my roots into Christ Jesus?” Listen, it’s not fancy. I don’t have some profound, paradigm-altering answer for you. The answer is you read your Bible. You go to church. You pray like crazy. You actually trust Christ when life is hard. And over time your sapling soul becomes a Christ-nourished immovable oak!
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Here’s a second image. Here’s letter b.
b) We are built up in him
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7rooted and built up in him
More Pauline mixing of metaphors. Paul moves from horticulture to architecture. Don’t worry about it; it’s what Paul does.
The verb “built up” obviously has a connection to the world of home-building. So you are trading an agricultural image here for the language of building or even carpentry. And without torturing the metaphor, I would just point out that our being rooted in Christ goes inward. But our being built up in him goes outward.
And I would just encourage you to consider that everything that looks good in your metaphorical house came from Christ. He built you. And your gifts and talents and abilities as a Christian and as an influencer are a result of him. To the extent that you want to grow that and increase that, it’s completely dependent on him. He’s the one that builds you up.
To the extent that we can appropriate this statement as a command to build on Christ, let me remind you about Jesus’s parable of the person who builds his house upon the rock versus the one who builds on sand (Matt 7:24–27). I’ve seen lots of Christians and Christian influencers who build their houses on the sand of their own talents, gifts, abilities, and personality. That’s a mistake.
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Here’s a third statement. Here’s letter c.
c) We stand firm in the faith
Paul says in verse 7,
7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith,
Not “faith.” Not stand firm in faith. But stand firm “in the faith.” This is the way that Jude uses this word in Jude 3,
“I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”
This statement is objective not subjective. Paul’s statement about “the faith” is a reference to all of the truths and traditions concerning Christ that Paul and the other apostles passed down to the church. This is not a hyper-individualized reality. This is not “my truth” and “my faith.” It’s “the faith.” We are established in something objectively true, not just subjectively believed.
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And here’s a fourth statement… a fourth outworking of our walking in Christ. And the fourth one is the most surprising.
d) We abound with thanksgiving
6Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
We abound with thanksgiving as we walk in Christ. This is an essential part of our walk. We overflow with gratitude.
Listen, there is nothing more oxymoronic than an ungrateful Christian. How can you possibly be both saved eternally from your sins and also ungrateful? Those sins would have sent you to hell apart from Christ! How can you possibly be both saved by Christ and also ungrateful? That’s not just oxymoronic… that’s moronic!
The story is told about two men who were walking together in a field. And suddenly an angry bull started chasing them. They headed for the fence as fast as they could. And the one man said to the other, “Say a prayer for us.”
But the other man said, “I don’t know any prayers.”
“You’ve got to pray for us,” said the first man. “The bull is getting closer.”
“Okay, I’ll pray the only one I know.”
So the man prayed, “For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly grateful!”
Now, that is the ridiculous prayer of someone who doesn’t know God. But for those of us who do know God and have experienced his saving grace, we can literally (as Paul says elsewhere), “Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess 5:18; cf. Eph 5:20; Heb 13:15). Why? Because nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:38–39).
And Paul doesn’t just say, “Be a little thankful” here in Colossians 2. He doesn’t say, “Be mostly thankful.” What does he say at the end of verse 7? … “Abounding in thanksgiving.”
You should fall all over yourself every day. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord, for saving my wretched soul.” We should show up here on Sunday morning with smiles on our faces ready to sing and praise. The worship leaders should never have to say, “Come on now! Give me some more passion for this, church.” Never!
It doesn’t matter how hard a week you’ve had. It doesn’t matter what health crisis you’re going through. It doesn’t matter if your dog died, you lost your job, and you sprained your ankle all in the same week. You should still be abounding in thanksgiving, because Jesus Christ saved your soul when you didn’t deserve it and when the alternative was separation from God for eternity.
Now, is there a time to lament? Yes. Do I want you to fake it at church if you’re going through something horrible? No. But most of the laments in the OT end in praise (e.g., Pss 3; 4; 6; 13; 27; 54; 56; 57; 61; 142). Most of them are a means to an end… and the end is deeper trust in the Lord and praising his name.
And by the way, speaking of “abounding in thanksgiving.” This is a sneaky prominent theme in the book of Colossians if you haven’t noticed that already. Let me show you something really quick.
Look at Colossians 1:3, “We always thank God...” Look at Colossians 1:12, “giving thanks to the Father...” Then we have this statement in Colossians 2:7, “abounding in thanksgiving.”
Look also at Colossians 3:15,
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
And then the next verse in 3:16,
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
And the next verse in 3:17,
“giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
And then Colossians 4:2,
“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”
Most of those verses are using the Greek word εὐχαριστέω (eucharisteō) or some cognate of that term. And that term is derived from the word for grace—χάρις (charis). What are we thankful for, no matter what? What do we praise God for no matter what takes place in your life? God’s grace! God’s χάρις.
And Paul is telling us here that this is instrumental in our walk with Christ. As you walk with Christ… as you walk in Christ… let your thankfulness for his grace be abounding. Don’t let Satan get a hold of your heart and darken it towards the Lord. Don’t let Satan deceive you into thinking that something bad in your life is proof that God doesn’t love you. You want proof that God loves you? Here it is… grace!
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And speaking of Satan, write this down as a second point in your notes. What does a Christian do after conversion? We walk in Christ. Also…
2) We Watch Out for Counterfeits (2:8)
Paul says in verse 8,
8See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
There is Christ and there is nothing else. Any addition to him is subtraction. Any deviation from him is deleterious to your Christian walk. “Discernment in the Christian life isn’t knowing the difference between right and wrong. It’s knowing the difference between right and almost right.”
Several years ago, Sanja and I had a house in Illinois that had a basement office downstairs. And the stairway leading down there was pretty rough. So, my wife decided to refurbish it. And she put down these beautiful cherry-wood steps that looked amazing. Sanja is a bit of a carpenter if you didn’t know that already.
And after she fixed this stairway, she put this finishing lacquer on them that made them shine and look amazing. But it also made them incredibly slippery. And she told me, “Watch out when you go down this stairway. I need to sand and refinish it a few times because they are slippery.” And I said, “Yeah, yeah. I got it. I’m an athlete! Don’t worry about me.”
Well, the next morning, I got up early. I had my backpack on with my computer. I had a big cup of coffee in my hand with one of my favorite coffee mugs. And I had my slippery socks on. And I started down towards my office to start my day. And Sanja was still asleep.
And I don’t think my socks ever fully landed on the first step. My feet immediately slid out in front of me. My coffee went flying. I screamed bloody murder all the way down. And by the time everything was over, Sanja came in terrified that she had just killed her husband.
Thankfully the only thing that was broken was my coffee mug and my pride. The rest of me was okay. And Sanja could have said in that moment, “I told you to watch out!” But she’s a good wife. She knew she didn’t have to say it.
And there’s this little tendency in the human heart, when I say, “Watch out for Christian counterfeits!” for people to say, “Yeah, yeah. I got this, Pastor Tony.” And they are unaware of the danger.
Because I’ve seen it. I’ve seen good Christian men and women get sucked into the vortex of bad theology, bad Christology, and … how does Paul put it here?
… philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Does this ever happen in the Christian world? Unfortunately, yes. R. Kent Hughes says as follows,
“Apostasy can come to those who appear to be the best of Christians. I have even seen colleagues in the ministry fall to the lure of what they considered ‘deeper things.’ I remember one in particular who would no longer discuss the meaning of Scripture with me or others because he had a ‘higher hermeneutic,’ by which he meant that because he meditated on Scripture so much, he could see truths that transcended grammatical and traditional theological interpretation. With self-proclaimed ‘superior knowledge,’ he fathered a terrible legalism and led many into a false cult.”
I had this really good friend in college who at one time was a trusted godly source of wisdom. But then he started doing these Jedi mind tricks with me. He would say, “What God really wants you to do is this, Tony.” And “What God is really telling you is this!”
And over time it became less and less about God and his revealed Word. And it became more and more about what God was telling him to tell me that I couldn’t discern for myself. And I’m far enough removed from that situation now to know that what he was advocating was a “philosophy and empty deceit” that didn’t accord with Christ.
And by the way, “philosophy” isn’t the enemy here. Philosophy simply means “love of wisdom.” And philosophy was a general enough word to describe lots of things in the ancient world. Judaism and its different sects were each described as a “philosophy.” Christianity was even described as a “philosophy.”
What Paul warns about here is a philosophy characterized by empty deceit. It’s derived from human tradition and legalism, not God’s grace. It’s dependent on the “elemental spirits of the world,” not Christ.
And that prompts the question—what in the world are the elemental spirits of the world? There’s no Greek word here for “spirit” or “spirits” (πνεῦμα [pneuma]), so this is interpretive by the ESV. The Greek simply says, “elements of the world” or “substances of the world.”
Is this (1) a reference to demonic powers? Or is this (2) a reference to the elemental substances of the physical world—earth, wind, water, and fire? Or is this (3) a reference to elemental principles of the world that aren’t derived from Christ? Those are the three options for interpretation here.
I’ve gone back and forth on this one. But I think it’s the first of those options. I think we are dealing with spiritual forces that are stirring up deceit in the church, and Paul is warning against them. In other words, let me describe it this way—These are demonically-induced human traditions that deceive and direct people away from the sufficiency of Christ.
Paul is saying, “Don’t fall prey to the philosophy of these ascetics … Those guys saying, ‘Don’t touch that… Don’t handle this… Don’t eat that.’” Those human traditions that aren’t attached to Christ are empty deceits! Those human traditions are antithetical to our commitment to Christ and Christ alone.
8See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
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Now let me close with this. In the first century world, in AD 9 or thereabouts, there was a Roman General named Publius Quinctilius Varus. And Varus was leading a campaign far from Rome in the area known as Germania, east of the Rhine River. And Varus had three legions of soldiers at his command, something like 15,000 men.
And among his most trusted advisers was a Germanic commander in his ranks named Arminius. And Arminius was the last person that Varus ever suspected as a traitor. He appeared loyal. He served in the Roman military for years. He had received his Roman citizenship. But Arminius was lying in wait for a time to betray the great general.
And eventually, he got his chance. While these three legions of soldiers were traipsing through a dangerous stretch of Germania, Arminius convinced Varus to detour off the main roads and take a shortcut through the dense German forest. It was a trap. While in that forest, the native Germanics (who were used to fighting in the forest) attacked and annihilated three legions of Roman soldiers—15,000 men.
The military defeat was so devastating for Rome, that the Roman Emperor, Augustus, reportedly cried: “Quinctilius Varus, give me back my legions!” And the Roman Empire never fully recovered its ambitions east of the Rhine River.
Now, let’s talk about this. These soldiers were well trained. They were well armed. They were skilled. They were experienced. And the General was experienced. But they made two fatal mistakes. (1) They left the safety of the established roads and made themselves vulnerable in the woods. And (2) they got duped. They got played by someone who pretended to be one of them, but was secretly working for the enemy to accomplish their demise.
In your Christian life, we’ve got to walk the walk in Christ. Don’t ever, ever drift away from him, Christian. Don’t add to him. Don’t take away from him. He’s everything to you. For more on how awesome and essential Christ Jesus is to our everything, come back next week. And we’ll look at a kind of Christ-hymn 2.0 in Colossians 2:9–15.
Secondly, we walk in Christ, and we watch out for charlatans. Don’t get duped by false teachers who tell you, “There’s a better way.”
Or “You are missing something that I have to offer you.”
Or “Christianity is okay, but it needs an additive.”
Or “Christ is mostly sufficient, but you need to embrace asceticism, gnosticism, mysticism, legalism, empiricism, rationalism, or some other kind of -ism.”
No, Christian! Christ is enough! Walk and watch out. Walk and watch out. Let’s pray.
Related Teachings
